Pearls of Blood
by ShadowSong StarGlaive The Wolf
Summary: [One-shot] Grath, while lying in the vole's cave, wounded, reflects on the day those pearls were brought up from the sea, unknowingly...


A/N Well this is unexpected. Another Redwall fic, by guess who, Shadowsong! None of you were expecting that. Maybe some of you, but really.  
  
This is a one-shot, so it really came randomly. Hope you like it!  
  
I had to research Pearls of Lutra for this. I just love researching Redwall books for info on fanfictions. Did you know Lutra comes from the genus for otter? It's lutrainus or something. But whatever. Read and review please!  
  
(Pearls of Blood)  
  
Grath Longfletch felt like she was on fire. Scars littered her body like driftwood on the great sea.  
  
The sea.  
  
Grath moved again. Twitched, really. But her body ached, and where not covered with dried bracken was cold. All she remembered was that her tribe had been slain, and she wanted revenge.  
  
Revenge.  
  
That word was so small, yet kept her alive. Her brothers, sisters, cousins, all slain. From the youngest cub to the oldest kin, all rested at the Dark Forest, in the sunny streams and bright moonlit nights.  
  
Her goal was to slay the searats that slew her family. Their laughs, her cries, all were a whirling maelstrom of memories.  
  
However, even the smallest things caused the most disastrous events, such as six light crimson pearls.  
  
A certain memory drifted up to the warrior otter. A memory that plagued her night and day. The day that those tears were found.  
  
Flashback  
  
Grath Longfletch eyed down her bowstring. The neatly gray-fletched arrow lay on the notch. She loosed, and it struck home in the target.  
  
Thock! The sound echoed in her mind. Her sister, about eight seasons younger then her, handed another arrow, this one fletched white with a black tip. "Shoot another 'un, Grath, another!"  
  
Grath took the arrow, smiling at her sister, who was the lightest brown any otter had ever been. She didn't have brown eyes, like any other otter, but an almost white, light tan. Her name, Sandstar, came from her looks.  
  
Sandstar eagerly prodded Grath. "Common, Grath, you kin do it!"  
  
Grath fletched the arrow and shot it, neatly fitting next to the other arrow.  
  
"Grath! Come here!" called a male down the beach. He was waving. "Your father wants to see you."  
  
Grath ran down the beach, sand flying behind her paws. "What is it, Gullar?"  
  
Gullar pointed at a group of wet otters. "We found the biggest scallop shell, and your pa thinks it had pearls in it!"  
  
Pearls were not uncommon, but it was the tribe's main trading source. Often in spring, their current summer, they traded with other otter tribes on the shore, often for precious rocks and sometimes rare foods.  
  
Grath excitedly twined her paws around her stout yew bow. "Sounds good! Any way I could help?"  
  
Gullar nodded. "Aye, 'tis why yore pa called you." He pointed again to the otters. "Best check it out."  
  
Grath gave her bow to Gullar, for she had left her quiver with Sandstar. Bounding over to the cluster of otters, she asked, "What is it, Father?"  
  
A deep grunt came from the knot of otters. "Lemme out!"  
  
The otters parted, and an old otter came out. "Ah, Grath. We think that young Kelp here saw a giant oyster, and it might have a few good pearls in there. Could you get it?"  
  
Grath pulled up the sleeves of her tunic. "Depends, Father. Where is it?"  
  
Kelp, a brawny young male otter of about fifteen seasons, about Grath's age, said, "Down the reef a bit. We were waiting for you, you're the best pearl diver here."  
  
Grath nodded, and went down the shore to where Kelp indicated.  
  
The sand around where the arrived was already churned and soggy. Kelp dove in, and Grath after him.  
  
The water was cool, but not cold; just perfect. Grath swam after Kelp, curious.  
  
Kelp disembarked at an area about a minute from where they were at the shore. He pointed up, and Grath followed.  
  
At the surface, he said, "There's a huge scallop shell down there, it weighs a bit, so we both need to get it. Ready?"  
  
Grath bobbed her head. "I'm ready. Let's go!"  
  
The pair of otters dove under the sea.  
  
Grath saw what Kelp had been talking about- it was huge. She wriggled closer to it, and clasped her paws around the left side. Kelp took the right, and both of them lifted, straining their paws.  
  
The otters wrenched it out of the sand, hearing a faint sucking noise as it was lifted. Sand scattered everywhere, floating in the watery main.  
  
Struggling up, they finally made it. Swimming towards shore, the two otters deposited it. Both them really looked at it for the first time.  
  
It was a tan shell, with ridged sides. Grath opened it.  
  
Six pink pearls were there, each perfectly proportioned, as if somebeast had molded them from clay. The crimson pearls were shining, perfect.  
  
Kelp gasped at their beauty. "They're wonderful!"  
  
Neither otter noticed a rat, armed with a trident, slip away, etching that memory into her mind.  
  
The pair of otters closed it and staggered with the prodigious shell back to the holt.  
  
(Later, at the holt)  
  
Grath's father, Kydra, stared in amazement. "They are so rare and beautiful! We shall keep them as a reminder as what is so exquisite in the sea. We shall call them the Tears of all Oceans, for tears of oysters are what pearls are."  
  
Little did they know, it was also their death ticket.  
  
End Flashback  
  
Grath cried out in pain and grief for her holt. Those cursed pearls! The half-dozen orbs of heartache. How she wished they had never been found.  
  
Glinc and his wife Sitch watched the otter, and covered her with more bracken and a blanket. "Wot do you suppose she's thinking about?"  
  
Glinc answered. "She must be thinking about somat dreadful. Wotever it is, it's got to so with searats and vermin."  
  
Sitch looked at the ottermaid. "Aye, but also tears. Tears of what?"  
  
Glinc looked at her. "She said of the oceans, all oceans. Tears is the right word, ain't a beast who can survive that an' have good memories!"  
  
Grath was drifting off to sleep, but her last words before slumber were, "The Tears of All Oceans... pearls!"  
  
(End Pearls of Blood)  
  
A/N How was it? Angsty enough? I tried to write angst with The Foeseeker and all, but I can't seem to write three things: fluff, angst, and long stories. Seriously. Song of a Shadow had 15 short chapters.  
  
See you next story! 


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